NEWS

06.05.2008

The Second Higher Education Fair and the Scholarship Fair were successfully implemented

Podgorica. "Open Days 2008" fair took place from 14th to 18th April 2008. The fair was supported by The Ministry of Education and Science of Montenegro and The Centre for Effective Development of Higher Education (CERVO), with the support of partners through all phases of its realisation. Partners that supported the fair were: Municipality of Podgorica, Municipality of Bar and Municipality of Bijelo Polje. Eminent companies and organisations from Montenegro, including WUS Austria as silver sponsor, supported this project.

Open Days 2008 was organised in: the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica (14th April 2008) and two other municipalities: Municipality of Bar (16th April 2008) and Municipality of Bijelo Polje (18th April 2008), which means that all three regions in Montenegro were included.

The Scholarship Fair was a unique event of national importance. The Scholarship Fair on „Open Days 2008“ is the event where all scholarships and other forms of financial support available to Montenegrin citizens concerning higher education were presented at one place. The Scholarship Fair, as well as The Higher Education Fair made it possible to citizens of Montenegro, but primarily to young people, to get informed about opportunities concerning higher education in Montenegro and concerning financial help for those who wanted to study at one of the higher education institutions in Montenegro.

Realisation of the project "Open Days 2008" included organisation of two Fairs in Montenegro: The Second Higher Education Fair and The First Fair of Scholarships. Through project „Open Days 2008“, 30 faculties from Montenegro presented their programs, and they had the opportunity to exchange information and offer their programs to students and other participants through direct communication. In addition to that, The Scholarship Fair was a place where renowned institutions from Montenegro, as well as numerous international organisations and Embassies presented their programs of support for higher education in Montenegro.

All people who visited WUS Austria stand were informed about new projects, especially about the scholarship ‘Cooperation between Austrian and Montenegrin HE institutions’. Moreover, Coordination Office of Austrian Development Cooperation in Montenegro enabled the promotion of Austrian database of scholarship on WUS Austria stand. All interested people were given relevant promotional material, which also included the website www.grants.at.

According to the data received from the Organisational Board of Open days, more than 10.000 visitors attended the fair. In addition, extensive marketing campaign was supported by 50 billboards throughout Montenegro (with sponsor logos), large number of flyers and posters in all Montenegrin municipalities, presentations of projects in all primary schools. The project was advertised in daily news, radio jingles, video spots, at all Montenegrin radio and TV stations, as well as through distribution of leaflets in daily papers.

This fair enabled WUS Austria to establish a number of contacts, not only with the students who will apply for WUS scholarships, but also with professors and experts who could be involved in WUS projects.